i found this fish out on the road
and bones she had most none of

her jelly self had flipped and flopped
and up she could not get and walk

as she lay dying.

blackened flattened
soft and squishy
there she looked so odd, so fishy

tired and true she rested there
not one bone missing
not one hair
her fractured self lay everywhere

as she lay dying.

and in the sun she soon would bake
if left there would be my mistake

had i not chanced to come along
to save her from her dying.

i picked her up she said “ ‘tis thus”
my ears they did perceive her

her orange belly glistened so
as she wriggled to and fro

my hands so gently wrapped around
and yet she tumbled to the ground

i cried and cried and could not keep her
from the cosmic dance of time

her one last song
her once last rhyme

and with a shallow labored breath
she led herself to quiet death

as she lay dying.

kimberly millen brown July 3. 2011